It's Never Just One Dance
by bluemoonbabe
Summary: Julexis oneshot. If I say any more than that, I'll give too much away.


It's Never Just One Dance

In his head, Julian Jerome had it planned to a tee. Mr. Preppy McSexless Woman-stealer would find himself too distracted by one of Julian's men to meet Alexis at the Metro Court for their date. He'd neglect to call her that night, leaving Alexis alone and dateless. This is where Julian would come in to save the day. Walking into the Metro Court, all dressed up for the occasion, he would come to Alexis' rescue and win her back. There was only one problem—this was just some ridiculous fantasy that he had conjured up in his head after drinking one too many glasses of bourbon on a particularly lonely night, in his empty apartment.

He had been in that apartment for far too long. He needed to get out of it for just one night, to sleep in a different bed that didn't smell like Alexis. All Julian really wanted was just a single moment of his life where he could feel like his head wasn't about to explode. Ever since they had broken up, his heart had been throbbing painfully and his head had been overflowing with agonizing fantasies about the way they once had been.

He checked a room out at the Metro Court under his name that evening, hoping that maybe a change of scenery would get him to focus on other things. But when he got into his room, he realized how wrong he had been. When he turned on the lights, all he could think about was the day Alexis barged into his hotel room, raging about his newspaper announcement. She had slapped the smug look off of his face, for about a millisecond, that day. He remembered the day before that, when he had kissed her for the first time in decades. The sweet taste of her lips against his, addictive and sinful…

His room was too big for just one person to stay in, and he tried to ignore that fact. The bed was queen sized, and he knew he would feel alone in it without Alexis. Maybe this was a bad idea, staying at the Metro Court for a single night. A change of scenery wasn't helping, so far.

He threw his overnight bag by the foot of the bed and proceeded to murder his mental sanity with more thoughts of Alexis. He remembered the nervous phone calls he had received from Alexis, back when he was Derek Wells and back when she had an adorable crush on him. Her voice quivered when she inquired if he would be visiting Danny after the transplant; she awkwardly said she would be happy to see him. It made him smirk, knowing that Alexis was coming undone by Mr. Derek Wells slowly but surely. Then he remembered the private conversations they had shared about Alexis' life, her lovers and her children. She shared such personal pieces of information with him that he felt beyond touched. She had trusted him enough to divulge that kind of information. It was unbelievable to him

She had messed up in the love-department time and time again, but he didn't care. He loved her because she was Alexis Davis, the one and only. Back when he was Derek Wells, things were so simple, so uncomplicated—so plain. Part of him wished that he was Derek Wells, but there was also a miniscule, insane part of him that loved the drama that came with being Julian Jerome. After all, Julian Jerome was the man that Alexis loved, not some other alias or face that he took on.

At half past seven, Julian got a little peckish. Screw the Metro Court's restaurant. Sure, it was fancy and the food was delicious, but for every reason Julian preferred the Floating Rib.

He walked through the door, inhaling the scent of alcoholic beverages, bar food and… perfume? He ignored it at first, paying more attention to the fact that his stomach was doing summersaults in beg of food. He sat down on a bar stool and ordered a hamburger.

The bar was pretty empty that night, save for a few people and Julian. It was quiet, and the sound of soft music playing from the kitchen could be heard. There was no one playing pool, no drama, nothing.

Behind him was a woman, staring doe eyed at the back of his head, completely frozen by the fact that her ex (for the umpteenth time) boyfriend was in the Floating Rib, sitting right in front of her. He hadn't noticed her yet. Should she run for the hills while she still could? Instead of doing just that, she just sat there—thinking about him. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but she had half a mind to whip him around and kiss him right there in the bar. Then the more rational side of her piped in, telling her "He's not the man for you. He chose the mob over you. You deserve someone who's willing to choose you over everything else." She opted to do nothing but sit where she was and finish her third drink of the night.

When Julian received his hamburger, he was more than eager to take a bite into it. But before he could, he caught a whiff of that aforementioned perfume. It was light, sensual and alluring. He loved the scent of it. And then he remembered, it was the perfume Alexis used. Maybe his mind was playing a trick on him, or at least he hoped that it was because he could not handle Alexis Davis being in the bar that night. Then, he heard the disturbing click of stilettos behind him. Alexis plopped herself down next to him, and when he turned to face her he was speechless.

Her hair was tousled, she looked like she hadn't slept in a week and on top of it all there was a certain look in her eyes that shook him to his bones. He later realized that that look was regret and need stirred into a motely pool of love. "Alexis… I never thought that you would sit next to me when we're, well you know."

"Well Julian, I'm full of surprises. And honestly, I came here to tell you to stop stalking me." She half lied.

"You think too highly of yourself. I came here for this hamburger, and then I was going to leave."

"I find that hard to believe," Alexis said lowly. Julian could tell that she was drunk, but he didn't know what he would do about it just yet.

Alexis took one of his french-fries, and then another. By the third fry he pushed his plate closer to her so that she would stop tempting him by leaning closer to him every few seconds to steal another fry. "Have you eaten anything today?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"Apart from this and my gin, not that I can recall."

He took the top off of his hamburger and removed the onions from it, knowing that she disliked them, and sliced the burger in half. He pushed half of it closer to the fries. "Since you're already intent on eating my fries, have half of this."

He knew she ate when she was stressed, french-fries being one of her favorite comfort foods. If she accepted his offering of half of his burger, it would only give him reason to believe that something had happened and she was drowning her sorrows in his food and gin.

She poked at the burger at first, but then ate it. The food seemed to take some of the edge off from the alcohol, and that made Julian both upset and glad at the same time. With Alexis' almost new-found sobriety, she realized that she was basically having dinner, though an unconventional one at that, with Julian. She was in a sticky situation, one that only half of her was shouting from the rooftops to get the hell out of.

Then she realized how much she was enjoying the playful banter being exchanged between them and the fact that for the first time since breaking up with Julian that she felt like she could laugh wholeheartedly, not like when she was with Ned, laughing because she felt like she was obligated to laugh at his half-witted jokes.

Julian cleared his throat.

_Oh boy, here it comes—this is where he asks if I want to get back together with him. _Alexis thought internally.

"So what's been bothering you? You don't seem like yourself."

She was shocked that he didn't ask for her back, but her face didn't show it. Instead she raised an eyebrow as a mask to how much fast he made her heart beat when he showed that he cared for her and how completely naked she felt in front of him.

"Oh come on, we know each other well enough. I have an ear. Just vent to me."

A little part of her loosened, and she gave in. If he wanted her to tell him a sob story, he was going to get one. "Fine, but don't take this as a sign or any indication of submission or any kind of hair-brained idea that you get in your head. This won't change anything."

"Oh Alexis, are you going to finally tell me that you want me back tonight?" Julian joked, though deep down it was a very serious, excruciatingly painful question.

"You wish." She eyed him carefully, before telling the tale of Alexis and Ned. "I was supposed to go on a date tonight with Ned. I waited for an hour and a half at the Metro Court, and he neglected called me. I know this probably sounds hypocritical, considering that I've done this to him a thousand times over, but I wish that he had at least given me a call or something. I'm just… I don't know. I was hoping that we he and I were passed the whole "we're not really committed" stage of this." The last sentence was shot directed at Julian—an arrow through his heart. Truthfully, Alexis didn't give a rat's ass about Ned, but she continued this sob story, hoping that it would get Julian riled up.

"When I walked out, I saw Ned checking out a room with Olivia. He pretended not to notice me when I walked out of the MC." I know, it's a petty reason to feel so down, considering that I didn't mean that much to him and we weren't very committed to each other either, at least in his eyes." Alexis couldn't tell if Julian was buying into this or not at first, but then she saw sorrow pooling in his eyes as he stole her last french-fry and popped it into his mouth.

"It's his loss."

"That's the most cliché thing I've ever heard you say."

"It's the truth."

Alexis scoffed. "Either way, I'm still here, half-drunk and talking to my _ex_ about my love life." The real reason why Alexis was at the Floating Rib, drowning her sorrows in gin, was that she woke up that morning reaching out to Julian in bed, murmuring his name—only to realize that the spot next to her was empty. She went through the rest of her day, just like that spot, cold and empty, longing to be filled.

Julian looked at the clock, it was approaching nine. Not nearly late enough to be a grown man's bed time, but nevertheless he thought it was best if he fled from the bar. He couldn't bear being next to Alexis, laughing with her, inhaling the intoxicating scent of her perfume and gazing into her hauntingly beautiful eyes for one more moment without, at the _very_ least, stealing a kiss. Alexis felt the same twinge of yearning in her heart, and she was fighting a painstaking battle with herself to keep her distance.

"Look, Alexis I should leave. I hope your day gets better."

"I should be leaving too," she replied quickly, almost instantly regretting that she had said that.

She stood up from the bar stool and took a few wobbly steps before Julian wrapped one of his strong arms around her waist. "I don't want you falling over and making a fool of yourself," he whispered into her ear, "Lawyers don't want to look too bad when they're more or less drunk." She let out a small giggle that she failed to suppress.

Out in the parking lot, Julian and Alexis stood there for a minute, carefully surveying it. "Where's your car?" Julian asked plainly.

"I walked here from the office."

"I'm driving you home." It wasn't an offer.

"But—"

"I'm not going to let you walk home, and I'm not going to leave you here to wait for a cab. It's faster this way."

Alexis was in no mood to argue with him. "Fine. But no funny business. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal."

Alexis shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat of his car. Being next for so long made her feel hot and bothered; she needed to take a cold shower when she got home that night. They talked a bit in the car, mostly about Sam and Danny. Those were the safe zones. Anything else would result in a fight or possibly mindless sex in the backseat of his car.

When they found themselves in from of Sam's apartment building, Alexis strongly felt like she didn't want to be there that night. It was so strange to her. Her hand lingered by the door handle.

"Goodnight, Alexis."

"I don't want to go," was her response. She was surprised that those words got out of her mouth.

"What do you mean you don't want to go?"

"Sam's out of town with Danny, and Molly's off at a friend's house. I really don't want to walk into that empty apartment and be alone for the rest of the night."

"Then call someone over," Julian said dumbly.

Alexis turned to him and looked him deep in the eye. "I just want to talk to you for a while longer. Please."

Julian hesitated. "In Sam's apartment or in my car?"

"Neither… I want to go someplace different."

Julian didn't give a damn anymore at that point. He wasn't going to refuse the woman he loved, even if all she wanted was just to chat. "I'm staying at the Metro Court tonight, is that going to be an issue?"

"No it sounds perfect." They drove off, driving over the speed limit and missing a few stop signs. Alexis didn't call him out for it; she didn't give a damn anymore at this point either.

When they entered his hotel room, they immediately rid themselves of their shoes. In the corner of his eye, Julian saw something; he was surprised to find a bottle of wine and two glasses on the table. He hadn't remembered those being there when he had first come into the room, but then again that day had been a strange day in all regards. He would pour the wine in the glasses later, perhaps when Alexis wasn't tipsy.

"So, what did you want to talk about, Alexis?"

"I don't know…I just wanted to talk."

Julian sighed, and he realized that all Alexis really wanted was some company. He was more than willing to provide her with it, but the thick air between them made it all that harder to breathe. "You want to see what's on TV? Maybe it won't all be crappy now."

"Sure, why not."

They sat down on the couch, an ample distance between them. The temperature of the room was rising with every passing moment. Julian took of his suit coat and hung it over the arm of the sofa. Julian started flipping through the channels, before Alexis snatched the remote from him and took the matter into her own hands. She passed a particular channel that was showing "Golden Girls" and Julian took the remote back and turned the channel back so that Golden Girls was on. "We're going to watch this "Golden Girls" marathon and you're not going to complain about it. Besides, I think you'll enjoy it."

Alexis laughed. "Lucas had ruined you."

To her surprise, the show wasn't half bad. She'd seen a couple episodes before, but never cared enough to actually pay attention to the show. She was more amused by the fact that Julian liked this, than by the show itself. She might even go so far as to say that his new found love of "Golden Girls" was adorable. Alexis sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. I just can't believe you like this."

"Well I guess you gave it a shot… We can watch something else if you like." He handed the remote to her.

"No, I think I want to watch a little more of this." She put the remote by her side.

While they were watching the show, she took peaks at Julian. This was difficult, more so than she thought it would be. But it was her own fault, begging him to provide her with some company for the night. God, she just wanted to be with him. The tension between them was killing her, and she so desperately wanted it to disappear. But she knew better than that—she was not to push the boundaries between them.

Alexis could not be with a man in the mob.

It was wrong.

It would kill her entire family.

She absolutely could not be with Julian Jerome.

No matter how much she wanted to be.

No matter how much she loved him.

She kept telling herself that.

Julian got up from the couch, and that made Alexis' heart drop two thousand feet into the ground. He returned with wine, two glasses and a large blanket. "We might as well get comfortable while we're watching this." He poured the wine into the glasses after handing her the blanket. Julian noticed that she was shivering earlier. Once she was bundled up in the blanket, he handed her the wine.

Alexis was not too happy with the fact that Julian was not sharing the blanket with her, but she was not willing to do anything about it. She would not push boundaries. She absolutely could not. Nope. No. No. No… No. "Here, Julian the blanket's big enough for the both of us. You're cold too."

Glee glimmered in his eyes for a second before he tentatively got under the blanket. They had to be closer to each other than they were before in order to share the blanket, and Julian didn't have a single complaint… save for the fact that this was wrong—they weren't together anymore.

They sipped their wine carefully, Julian having a bit more than Alexis. He needed the wine in order to not go crazy from the fact that he was with the woman he loved, but could never have. Alexis put her head on his shoulder at one point, and poor Julian couldn't help himself from holding her hand underneath the blanket. The marathon finished at midnight and Alexis turned the TV off, but they didn't move from their position.

"How have you been?" Alexis asked carefully.

"Busy with life, you?"

"I can say the same." Alexis took in a deep breath. "Did you watch the football game last Sunday?"

"Of course. Did you?"  
>"Yes… I didn't have much else to do that day."<p>

Julian was completely taken aback. He had never known Alexis to watch football. "Did you enjoy the game?"

"It wasn't too bad." Alexis had watched the game, because she had been missing Julian and wanted at least some way to feel connected to him—other than listening to his every voicemail. Alexis got up, "I need to use the bathroom," she said, knowing that sad eyes were watching her from behind.

Once she was gone, Julian took the opportunity to turn on every lamp room and turn off the main light. Then he turned on some soft, slow music on his phone. If he ever had an opportunity to win Alexis back, this sure as hell was _the_ opportunity.

Alexis fixed her hair in the mirror. Gosh, she felt more like a mess than she looked. She knew she should probably leave; it was getting late. But she wanted to spend the night with him, because it was the first time since they had broken up that she had actually felt alive. "Goddamnit Julian," she whispered under her breath before exiting the bathroom.

She was shocked to see the change of atmosphere in the room—the dim light from the lamps, the soft music playing in the background. "Oh… Julian." This was everything she had wanted, but also everything she was denying herself of.

"Shh…" he said as he stepped closer to her. He took put his hands on her hips, "Please, Alexis, dance with me just this once."

"O-okay," she stuttered nervously. Julian loved the he could make her so frazzled. She wrapped her arms around his neck as the song had changed. "Dance With Me" by the Sweet Remains was playing in the background. She pressed closer to him, as they slow danced. "Julian this is wrong," she whispered.

"Please, just give me this one dance. Then you can leave and never come back, if you like." He uttered the last part so quietly, that Alexis had barely heard it.

"Julian, it's never just one dance with us."

"I never said it had to be."

They continued dancing, their hearts palpitating hard against their chests. Their heartbeats were in synch, and they could feel each other's heartbeat through the thin material their clothing was made of.

"Julian?" His name was a question; Alexis was no longer sure if he was there, or if that this was all a figment of her imagination and that she was still in the bar, passed out from too much gin.

"Alexis," his sultry voice rumbled.

Small tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I love you, Julian."

And he kissed her, kissed her the way a husband would have kissed his wife after not seeing her for years, from being in a war. She kissed back with the same need that he had for her. The song changed, and they continued dancing, after all—it was never just one dance with them. They also continued kissing, because in this perfect moment nothing else had mattered. It was for that one single moment that the fact the Julian was in the mob, the fact Alexis was broken hearted over the fact that he refused to tell her the truth—had all gone up in flames.

They broke apart, gasping for air. "I love you too, Alexis."

He took the slightest step back from her, but they were still slow dancing. "Promise me you won't leave, Alexis—not tonight, not ever." His lips were agonizingly hovering millimeters above hers.

"I'm not going to leave, I promise."

Julian would hold her to that, even if it would kill him. He picked her up bridal style and carried her to the bed. "Good, because I don't know what I would have done if you said that you would." That made Alexis giggle.

He laid her on the bed gently and climbed on top of her, "I'm going to make love to you tonight, Alexis. And tomorrow, when I wake up, I want you to still be in bed next to me." He kissed her as she let out a desperate moan.

"Anything Julian, anything—if you promise me the same."

They collapsed onto the bed, panting. It was three in the morning, and they felt beyond exhausted. Alexis laid her head on his chest. It was only then, with the wine no longer fogging their minds up, that the possible consequences of their actions started bombarding their thoughts.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this again," they said simultaneously.

"You didn't drag me into this, I'm the one who begged you to provide me with company," Alexis said.

"I'm the one who begged you to dance with me." There was a moment of silence. "So we both wanted this, I guess."

"Mmm, yeah," Alexis sleepily scotched closer to him.

"Woah there, you're not going to sleep on me yet." Julian moved some hair out of her face. "We need to talk about some things first."

"Can't we talk about this in the morning?"

"We'll both sleep better if we talk right now."

Alexis sat up, "Okay."

"I want to make this work."

"I do too, Julian."

"I don't enjoy lying to you, but I want you to understand that if I divulge any information to you, I would be putting your life in risk."

"You've said that a million times, Julian. But you also need to understand that I've been in close proximity to the mob for the larger part of my life, and I'm still alive."

Julian took a second to kiss her so that he could have time to think. "I can't tell you everything, but I'm willing to answer one question that you're wondering."

"Who's you're boss?" Julian feared that she would ask this.

"Honestly, I have no clue." Her brow furrowed in anger and confusion. "However, he is pretending to be Luke Spencer—or at least, that's what I'm being lead to believe—if that helps. I can't tell you any more than that." His words were hesitant, but said carefully.

It didn't make too much sense, but Alexis trusted him—the way she had trusted him when he had told her that Luke wasn't his boss. And now she knew he hadn't lying. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you told me that Luke is not your boss."

"After all I've put you through, there's no need to apologize."

"Thank you for telling me, Julian. I know the words didn't come easily."

"Alexis, I hope that's enough for you to trust me, at least for a little while."

Alexis put her hand to his chin and turned his face so that she could look him in the eyes. Her eyes were soft and filled with love. "It's more than enough Julian, and I can't find the words to tell you how happy it makes me that you've told me this. And I want you to trust that I won't let this information out. I love you."

"I love you too, Alexis." After sharing one last kiss, Julian said, "It's going to be hard, but we'll make this work, and maybe down the road I'll be able to tell you more… and even further, if it's possible—I'll get out of the mob."

"Yes, we'll find a way to make this work." She paused and looked him dead in the eye, "But we'd make this work if you'd let me go to sleep for once," Alexis joked.

After laughing, they finally went to sleep. And when they woke up the next morning, they were still next to each other in the same bed. They planned for it to stay that way for a long time.

A/N: This Fanfic is a product of one of my tweets and several of my followers on twitter! Hope you all enjoyed this! Much love and thanks to all of you who read this and to my followers on twitter! 3


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